During the global spotlight of the MWC25 (Mobile World Congress), MTN Uganda CEO Sylvia Mulinge delivered a powerful keynote at the “Fintech and Commerce Summit: Strategic Collaborations Enabling Winning Strategies.” Her reflections went beyond corporate strategy, grounding the narrative of digital finance in a deeply personal story of need, resilience, and revolutionary access.
Mulinge’s address eloquently framed the journey of digital transformation, not as a technical win, but as a moral imperative; a journey that began with her own family’s struggle for simple financial inclusion.
Standing on the global stage, Mulinge shared an intimate reflection: the memory of her mother. “Growing up, I watched my mother wear many hats, holding our family together with love and resilience. She often supported our extended family, including my grandmother, who lived upcountry. Back then, sending money meant handing cash to a bus driver travelling that way. My grandmother would wait by the roadside for hours, hoping the money arrived safely. Sometimes it did. Sometimes it didn’t.”
These moments, she explained, represented the profound gap between need and access, which she had always dreamt of bridging. She revealed that her childhood ambition to become a “banker” evolved into a drive for digital finance, where technology could address the exact inconveniences and risks she witnessed firsthand.
Years later, working with MoMo, one of Rwanda’s pioneering fintechs, Mulinge said she witnessed the true power of innovation and collaboration, realising the core goal of transforming lives with dignity and instant access. She noted that Rwanda’s success story is a testament to strategic partnerships, which have built solutions that are surpassing mere transactions, some of which include:
- Financial Inclusion at Scale. Over a million Rwandans are now empowered to save and access credit digitally every month, thereby fostering financial stability.
- Ecosystem Innovation. The platform was opened to innovators, enabling the creation of essential services built on their APIs, ranging from transport, healthcare, and ticketing to e-commerce and payroll management.
- Government and Social Security. Through collaborations with entities like EjoHeza/RSSB, saving for the future has become as simple as a tap, while partnerships with Irembo have drastically simplified government payments, turning processes that once took weeks into mere minutes.
Mulinge, who also experienced some of the latest robotics technology in Rwanda, highlighted a story that crystallised the impact of digital transformation on grassroots livelihoods, stating: “I’ll never forget meeting an elderly tea farmer who walked eight hours to collect less than $10. Two years after going digital, he received payments instantly, spent more time in his fields, increased his yield fiftyfold, and sent his children to school. That’s the power of technology and trust, turning time once lost into opportunities gained.”
She also noted that by digitising payments with tea and coffee factories, farmers no longer waste hours queuing for cash; they are paid instantly. This efficiency, she observed, allows them to focus on production, directly increasing their yield and income.
Mulinge concluded that the story of Rwanda’s digital transformation is a continental lesson in the power of collaboration across industries and borders. Looking beyond the numbers, she emphasised the human impact of collaboration, saying: “I see stories of mothers who no longer wait for buses to send money. Of farmers transforming their livelihoods. Of young people saving for their dreams. Of small businesses expanding beyond Rwanda thanks to digital payments.”
The message is clear: inclusion in Rwanda is no longer a privilege, but a reality achieved through unity. “Every tap is a step forward; a step toward a Rwanda where access to finance is not a privilege, but a shared right for all,” Mulinge concluded.